Agency, Autonomy and Asymmetry in Child-Adult Relations

Abstract

This chapter provides an in-depth discussion of children’s experiences of agency. Children tell us that the exercise of agency is relational and as such fundamental to their experiences of well-being. We explicate from what children tell us the importance of extending the concept of agency from the notion of agency as participation, or self-determination, to the notion of agency as a form of social action, or self-determination through freedom of action in everyday life. In this context, we identify the importance of distinguishing between horizontal symmetries that characterise children’s affective relations with significant others and the vertical asymmetries in adult–child relations which, where they impact on children’s agency, can be obstacles to their experiences of well-being. This discussion highlights the tension between children’s everyday practices of agency and autonomy and macro-level structuring of child–adult relations.